Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease (Oct 2022)

Myocardial Work in Patients Hospitalized With COVID‐19: Relation to Biomarkers, COVID‐19 Severity, and All‐Cause Mortality

  • Flemming Javier Olsen,
  • Mats Christian Højbjerg Lassen,
  • Kristoffer Grundtvig Skaarup,
  • Jacob Christensen,
  • Filip Soeskov Davidovski,
  • Alia Saed Alhakak,
  • Morten Sengeløv,
  • Anne Bjerg Nielsen,
  • Niklas Dyrby Johansen,
  • Claus Graff,
  • Henning Bundgaard,
  • Christian Hassager,
  • Reza Jabbari,
  • Jørn Carlsen,
  • Ole Kirk,
  • Matias Greve Lindholm,
  • Lothar Wiese,
  • Ole Peter Kristiansen,
  • Olav W. Nielsen,
  • Birgitte Lindegaard,
  • Niels Tønder,
  • Charlotte Suppli Ulrik,
  • Morten Lamberts,
  • Pradeesh Sivapalan,
  • Gunnar Gislason,
  • Kasper Iversen,
  • Jens Ulrik Stæhr Jensen,
  • Morten Schou,
  • Jesper Hastrup Svendsen,
  • John Moene Aalen,
  • Otto Armin Smiseth,
  • Espen Wattenberg Remme,
  • Tor Biering‐Sørensen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.122.026571
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 19

Abstract

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Background COVID‐19 infection has been hypothesized to affect left ventricular function; however, the underlying mechanisms and the association to clinical outcome are not understood. The global work index (GWI) is a novel echocardiographic measure of systolic function that may offer insights on cardiac dysfunction in COVID‐19. We hypothesized that GWI was associated with disease severity and all‐cause death in patients with COVID‐19. Methods and Results In a multicenter study of patients admitted with COVID‐19 (n=305), 249 underwent pressure‐strain loop analyses to quantify GWI at a median time of 4 days after admission. We examined the association of GWI to cardiac biomarkers (troponin and NT‐proBNP [N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide]), disease severity (oxygen requirement and CRP [C‐reactive protein]), and all‐cause death. Patients with elevated troponin (n=71) exhibited significantly reduced GWI (1508 versus 1707 mm Hg%; P=0.018). A curvilinear association to NT‐proBNP was observed, with increasing NT‐proBNP once GWI decreased below 1446 mm Hg%. Moreover, GWI was significantly associated with a higher oxygen requirement (relative increase of 6% per 100–mm Hg% decrease). No association was observed with CRP. Of the 249 patients, 37 died during follow‐up (median, 58 days). In multivariable Cox regression, GWI was associated with all‐cause death (hazard ratio, 1.08 [95% CI, 1.01–1.15], per 100–mm Hg% decrease), but did not increase C‐statistics when added to clinical parameters. Conclusions In patients admitted with COVID‐19, our findings indicate that NT‐proBNP and troponin may be associated with lower GWI, whereas CRP is not. GWI was independently associated with all‐cause death, but did not provide prognostic information beyond readily available clinical parameters. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04377035.

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